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My Life Asleep
A vigorous collection of poems, My Life Asleep never succumbs to gloom, despite Jo Shapcott's black humor and sometimes macabre tone. This is her third collection of poetry.
- GenresPoetry
Paperback
First published June 24, 1999
16 people want to read
About the author
Jo Shapcott
28 books18 followersShe was an undergraduate at Trinity College, Dublin. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London, where she teaches on the MA in Creative Writing. She is the current President of The Poetry Society.
Her Book: Poems 1988-1998 (2000), consists of a selection of poetry from her three earlier collections: Electroplating the Baby (1988), which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection, Phrase Book (1992), and My Life Asleep (1998), which won the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection). She has also won the National Poetry Competition twice. Together with Matthew Sweeney she edited an anthology of contemporary poetry in English, but gathered from around the world, entitled Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times (1996).
Jo Shapcott has worked with a number of musicians on collaborative projects. She has written lyrics for, or had poems set to music by, composers such as John McCabe, Detlev Glamert, Nigel Osborne, Alec Roth, Erollyn Wallen, Peter Wiegold and John Woolrich. Her poems were set to music by composer Stephen Montague in The Creatures Indoors, premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London in 1997. From 2001-2003, during the BBC Proms season, she presented the weekly 'Poetry Proms' on Radio 3.
Her book Tender Taxes, a collection of versions of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems in French, was published in 2002. The Transformers, due for publication in 2010, is a collection of public lectures given by Jo Shapcott as part of her Professorship at Newcastle, and she is co-editor (with Linda Anderson) of a collection of essays about Elizabeth Bishop. Her translation, with Narguess Farzad, of Poems by Farzaneh Khojandi was published in 2008.
Her latest book of poems is Of Mutability, published in 2010, shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) and overall winner of the 2010 Costa Prize.
In 2011 Jo Shapcott was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
Her Book: Poems 1988-1998 (2000), consists of a selection of poetry from her three earlier collections: Electroplating the Baby (1988), which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection, Phrase Book (1992), and My Life Asleep (1998), which won the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection). She has also won the National Poetry Competition twice. Together with Matthew Sweeney she edited an anthology of contemporary poetry in English, but gathered from around the world, entitled Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times (1996).
Jo Shapcott has worked with a number of musicians on collaborative projects. She has written lyrics for, or had poems set to music by, composers such as John McCabe, Detlev Glamert, Nigel Osborne, Alec Roth, Erollyn Wallen, Peter Wiegold and John Woolrich. Her poems were set to music by composer Stephen Montague in The Creatures Indoors, premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London in 1997. From 2001-2003, during the BBC Proms season, she presented the weekly 'Poetry Proms' on Radio 3.
Her book Tender Taxes, a collection of versions of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems in French, was published in 2002. The Transformers, due for publication in 2010, is a collection of public lectures given by Jo Shapcott as part of her Professorship at Newcastle, and she is co-editor (with Linda Anderson) of a collection of essays about Elizabeth Bishop. Her translation, with Narguess Farzad, of Poems by Farzaneh Khojandi was published in 2008.
Her latest book of poems is Of Mutability, published in 2010, shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) and overall winner of the 2010 Costa Prize.
In 2011 Jo Shapcott was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 4, 2022
This is the second time I've read My Life Asleep. I hadn't dipped into Shapcott's poetry for a while, and I'm so glad I did. It is utterly refreshing, like brilliant quartz with a dark seam running through the centre. Jo Shapcott has a command of language and form that makes me feel like I'm being tugged and pulled at the end of a lead, while at the same time yelping in delight! What a strange and unsettling image. But I don't think Shapcott wants her readers to feel settled or comfortable. Delighted. Curious. Rewarded. Even entertained. Yes. But not yummy or nice. Oh, yes, how could I forget, 'The Mad Cow in Space.' And that wonderful line from 'Life': 'Frog death is separation.' Or the touching beauty of 'Parsnip Cardiology' and the hysterical imagery of 'Professional Mourner.' And, of course, 'A Visit from Janey', the bathroom-wrecker. However, I will leave you with this line from 'Watching Medusa,' which I feel perfectly captures Shapcott's ability to embody contradictions in her work, to weave beauty and terror in the same line, 'I cannot speak or move / in case I do wrong to her and / close the sweet hissing mouths.'
August 24, 2023
10/1/2022
24/8/2023.
Me volví a leer este poemario que me compré en una tienda preciosa de segunda mano en Cambridge (en verdad esta historia tiene chicha) cuando viví en UK como auxiliar de conversación el curso pasado.
De alguna forma, me recuerda a mis momentos de allí por las diversas alusiones a Londres y por eso me gusta. Sin embargo, me cuesta conectar con su poesía. Quizás es por su vocabulario, sus metáforas. Seguramente sea porque me ha costado entenderla. Sin embargo, quiero volver a leerme los poemas con traductor en mano de forma más exhaustiva en vez de leerlo cansada o en la playa.
Poemas que me han gustado: Pig, Rhinoceros, Les Roses,Professional Mourner, Motherland.
24/8/2023.
Me volví a leer este poemario que me compré en una tienda preciosa de segunda mano en Cambridge (en verdad esta historia tiene chicha) cuando viví en UK como auxiliar de conversación el curso pasado.
De alguna forma, me recuerda a mis momentos de allí por las diversas alusiones a Londres y por eso me gusta. Sin embargo, me cuesta conectar con su poesía. Quizás es por su vocabulario, sus metáforas. Seguramente sea porque me ha costado entenderla. Sin embargo, quiero volver a leerme los poemas con traductor en mano de forma más exhaustiva en vez de leerlo cansada o en la playa.
Poemas que me han gustado: Pig, Rhinoceros, Les Roses,Professional Mourner, Motherland.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews